Practice Areas

Probate

Probate is a legal process supervised by a Nevada state court after you die. Your estate must go through probate whether you die leaving a Will or not in Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Incline Village and other towns in Nevada. The probate court's legal duty is to insure your debts are paid and that your assets are distributed. It does this in public hearings. Nevada Probate is THE ONLY LEGAL WAY TO CHANGE TITLE of your assets after death. However, a Living Trust holding title can transfer title before you die without going through probate. Probate proceedings are easy to challenge and frequently are in Reno, Nevada . A Living Trust in Nevada saves time, cost and is very private--no one knows your business, what you owned, what you owed or who inherited your assets.

If you die WITHOUT A WILL, your estate must be probated before it can be distributed among legal "heirs." This is called dying "intestate." With no Will, your heirs are determined by the law of Nevada, not by you.

There is NO PRIVACY in a public probate in Northern Nevada. Anyone can read your Will. Anyone can see what you owned and who you owed. Anyone can see who will inherit your estate and who was disinherited. A probate judge interprets your Will and determines what it means Probate can expose your family to unscrupulous solicitors.

If you become disabled or incapacitated before dying, your family must go to court to prove your mental or physical incapacity and ask a judge to place someone in charge of your affairs. In a Living Trust, you can designate privately in advance whom you wish to manage your affairs in the event of incapacity--another big advantage of trusts--and going to court is unnecessary in Reno..

If you have minor children or grandchildren, a simple Will may not provide the control you want to be in place after you die. The probate court will control the child's inheritance until the age of majority. At age 18, the child receives the full inheritance (something you may not have wanted). With a Living Trust, all these issues can be determined in advance and done in accordance with you wishes.

Probate is EXPENSIVE. Will contests and other disputes often arise in probate. This is expensive (legal fees) and comes out of your estate, out of the pockets of those you intended to inherit. A Revocable Living Trust can avoid almost all these problems in Reno and other Northern Nevada towns.